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ANTWORKS® - A space-age habitat for ants!
The Ant-Astronaut Story
Ants are fascinating creatures. Look at the ground on a fairly nice day, and chances
are you’ll see several scurrying around. The ants we interact with in everyday
life tend to be scouts or foragers. The colony, with its impressive and complex
tunnel system, remains hidden underground. Visible ant habitats, such as the Ant
Farm® product (Ant Farm® is a registered trademark of Uncle Milton Industries, Inc.),
provide insight into the lives of these amazing insects. Ant Farm® habitats enable
viewers to peer into the mysterious world of ants and how they tunnel. Usually made
of two panes of glass (or clear plastic) and filled with sand, Ant Farm® habitats
and their ilk allow a micro colony of ants to be put on display in a home or office.
As ants tunnel in the sand, viewers are able to witness a network of tunnels develop
before their eyes. Ant habitats using sand may also be created using glass canning
jars, and the like. Because you can’t really see through sand, the visible
tunnels are pretty much limited to those next to the outside wall. Another important
detail about sand and soil based ant habitats – they don’t like to be
moved. Shaking, whether from a strong earthquake or human-made, can cause the tunnels
to collapse – an Earth-shattering cataclysm, at least from the ants’
perspective. This posed quite a problem for the scientists at NASA, which resulted
in an ingenious solution.
The Gravity of the Situation
Gravity is a great indicator of direction. While we may not be certain which way
north is without a compass, up and down can always be determined. To what degree,
scientists wondered, do ants use gravity in creating their tunnel network? If an
ant colony were in a zero-gravity (technically, ‘micro-gravity’), environment,
would they know to tunnel down – and how complex would their tunnels be? NASA
had been planning experiments around ‘life in space’. The long-term
goal, being to discover how certain species react to a micro-gravity environment.
Would ants tunnel downward? Would spiders spin webs? These are some of the questions
NASA set out to answer.
The Problem and a Creative Solution
Containers for various forms of life were developed for space flight, however a
‘cosmic colony’ of ants posed a unique puzzle. With a soil/sand-based
habitat, NASA and the Space Shuttle crew had two, equally problematic options. If
ants were added to the habitat prior to take-off, the tremendous G-forces would
collapse any tunnels, killing the ants. Trying to add ants to the habitat in a weightless
environment might make for an entertaining ‘bloopers’ video, but would
be counter-productive for research. Even if this could be done without the Space
Shuttle hosting several rogue floating ants, the tunnels would still collapse from
the shaking caused during re-entry. It became clear that NASA needed a habitat ants
could live and tunnel in, that could withstand a significant amount of shaking.
A special gel material was created which would serve as a tunneling medium for the
ants, as well as a nutrient source. AntWorks® is based on this technology.
AntWorks® - Clearly Innovative!
Fascinations® AntWorks® allows one to study the behavior of ants in a unique, self-contained
environment. Its special gel is full of nutrients specially formulated for the needs
of the ant. Because the gel is clear, one can see tunnel architecture develop in
3-D – offering a new and unique perspective from that of the traditional,
soil-based habitats. Fascinations® AntWorks® includes a container with a special
gel formulation, magnifying glass, 20 page booklet detailing fascinating ant facts,
and a special ‘extreme magnification lens’ with which one can even see
hairs on the ants! AntWorks® is amazing, new and Patent Pending.
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